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Blog Post 1 - India vs England Series Review

Overall, England’s time in India wasn’t a particularly successful one results wise, as they came out on the losing side in the Test (3-1), One-Day (2-1), and T20 series’ (3-2), (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/55260168). However, results aside there were plenty of positives for England to take back with them. If it weren’t for a couple of horrendous batting collapses in the Test series the outcome may have been different, we were only 7 runs away from winning the One-Day series thanks to Sam Curran’s heroics, and in a high-scoring T20 series we came up just short mainly down to the impressive bowling of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. So, what has England captain Eoin Morgan learnt about his best T20 side in preparation for the T20 World Cup in India this October and November.

The T20 series definitely provided England the perfect opportunity to refine their best side in preparation for the upcoming World Cup, with Eoin Morgan only using 12 players across the 5-match series (Wigmore and Wilcox, 2021). England’s top 6 appear to be very settled in terms of personal (Jason Roy, Jos Buttler, Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan and Ben Stokes), with just the order in which those 6 bat being questioned, and perhaps whether or not England’s Test captain Joe Root should slot in there somewhere. It is the personal of England’s bowling that is still uncertain 6 months out from the World Cup, although leg-spinner Adil Rashid and paceman Jofra Archer are almost certain to start the first game of the tournament should they be fit. For the other 3 slots in the team, 6 players are vying for spot in Morgan’s starting XI (Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Chris Jordan, Mark Wood and Reece Topley), although both Wood and Jordan are ahead in terms of selection amongst those names due to their experience and firepower.

The exact 11 names that are on England’s team sheet for their first game of the tournament will undoubtedly depend on various factors, including injuries, opposition and pitch conditions on the day. What is known though is that England learnt a lot from the T20 series in India, particularly playing against a rival for the World Cup, and in conditions they’re likely to face for the tournament later this year (Wigmore and Wilcox, 2021). With a big summer of cricket coming on home soil, the majority of England supporters are looking forward to seeing this exciting England team playing again, as well as the direction they decide to go for the World Cup in October.

#cricket #visioncricket #IndvEng #t20worldcup

Blog Post 2 - LV County Championship (LVCC) Round 1 Results

The 2021 English professional cricket season kicked off on the 8th April in a familiar frosty fashion with players across the country having to wrap up warm as temperatures barely got into double figures. The start of the County Championship in early April is a significant day for many cricket fans as it signifies the beginning of a long summer filled with cricket across all the different formats. Although that long summer felt worlds away with the weather conditions, there were plenty of talking points from the opening round of red ball fixtures, particularly in relation to the issues of selection England will have for their games starting in June.

England's Test captain Joe Root began his summer of cricket slowly, falling for only 16 (off 59 deliveries) for his county Yorkshire who were playing against Glamorgan. As the captain though, unless injured, Root will undoubtedly be in England's starting 11 for their test match vs New Zealand on June 2nd, and with a large number of England's Test squad playing in the Indian Premier League T20 competition, it fell to those on the fringes of the squad to create the headlines. Most notably James Vince, who last played for England in red ball cricket in 2018, scored an unbelievable 231 off only 220 balls, which will give the England selectors something to think about. Another former England Test batsman Tom Westley also had a successful first game, as his double hundred will have done no harm in bolstering his chances of re-selection (Sky Sports, 2021).

Although as mentioned, the majority of England's Test squad are out plying their trade in India, there were still some familiar faces who're likely to continue their stint in the Test side. Surrey teammates Rory Burns and Ollie Pope both struggled on their return to competitive cricket after difficult winters in India, they were out for 4 and 22 respectively, getting out in similar impatient fashions (Berry, 2021). Burns' opening partner for England Dom Sibley also struggled, as he was dismissed for a 100 ball 29.

There will be plenty for those England selectors to think about in the run-up to the Test match series against New Zealand, with a lot of cricket to be played until then having a huge impact on their decisions. It will be intriguing to see how the form of those mentioned, amongst others, will develop over the next few weeks, and the subsequent approach England decide to take against one of the best Test teams in the world in New Zealand.

#cricket #visioncricket #LVCC #Englandcricket

Blog Post 3 - Beginning of the Indian Premier League (IPL)

The 2021 version of the IPL began on Friday 9th April with last year's champions Mumbai Indians eventually losing to Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore. The early stages of the tournament have been as exciting and hectic as ever, with some unbelievable cricket seeing the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) sit at the top of the table. This has surprised many fans of the tournament that those two teams should prop up the rest due to their lack of form in recent years. Although MS Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings have won the tournament on three previous occasions, in last year's edition they finished second bottom of the table and looked completely out of sorts. The men in yellow appear to have turned that around though and are in an early run of form. RCB, led by Virat Kohli once again, have also started the tournament well winning their first four games, and one more since. Having never won the competition, RCB and Virat Kohli will be more determined than ever to change that statistic.

However, all of this initial furore has been overshadowed by the Covid-19 outbreak in India. Even though here in the UK we appear to be overcoming the worst of the pandemic, across India the country is in the midst of a second wave that is putting an unbelievable strain on the country's health system and economy. There have been many calls for the IPL to be postponed in recent weeks, or for it to be moved to the UAE, particularly with several players leaving the tournament for a variety of reasons, including Ravi Ashwin (family battling Covid), Liam Livingstone (fatigue) and the Australian pair Adam Zampa and Kane Richardson (both personal reasons) (Botcherby, 2021). It would appear though that those in charge have no plans to halt the competition anytime soon. The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) who run the IPL are adament that the controls they have in place will keep all players and staff safe, and that the running of the tournament will have no detrimental impact on India's fight against the pandemic. The BCCI have such a strong opinion on this front that a senior official has commented saying that the cricket was providing important solace and entertainment to many people during such hard times (Reuters and PA Media, 2021). All in all, it is highly likely that the IPL will continue until its conclusion at the end of May, and let's hope that the standard of cricket can live up to the hype and excitement that the initial stages have provided.

#cricket #visioncricket #ipl2021 #covid19